SIL Electronic Publications

Journal of Translation 4(1)

Translation as a blending of cultures

Author

Abu-Mahfouz, Ahmad

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to consider translation as a blending of cultures. This paper argues that a translation will never be fair if something new has not been added to it. Therefore, a degree of cultural interface between two language groups (from English to Indian languages, i.e., Bengali, Marathi) is required for translating any text. This paper also describes translation philosophies from nineteenth century India, when the colonial agenda of translating indigenous texts was a part of a larger enterprise of Imperialism, to recent times when the attempt has been to rescue the work of translation from the restrictions imposed by the rhetoric of technical rules regarding transference from Source Language to Target Language. The result is one of blending of the culture of the Source Language of the original text with the conventions and culture of the Target Language, resulting in a translation that is not an exact translation of the original text but that will provide a faithful cultural understanding of the text in the minds of the Target Language readers.